2008 Woodie Awards
Amherst Club keeps Esperanto alive
Andrea Murray, Collegian Staff
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Arts & Living
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Coffin went to an Esperanto conference in Russia where he met a Russian woman and fell in love. They moved back to the U.S., and they have two kids. She speaks Russian to the kids. They all speak Esperanto together as the official house language because that is the only language that Coffin and his wife share in common. The children are learning their English from TV and school.
Esperanto seems to be the new language of love. The group told numerous love stories in which two people who only had Esperanto in common fell in love and never learned each other's native languages.
Dr. L. L. Zamenhof invented Esperanto and published the first book in 1887 under the pseudonym "Dr. Esperanto." The word Esperanto means "one who hopes." The language was created to allow communication between people of different lands and cultures. Interest in the language peaked in the 1970s.
Sometimes criticized for being sexist and sounding too artificial, it currently has not fulfilled its original intent of becoming a universal language. Some have even complained that Esperanto could take away from native languages, but that is not the intent.
"It is important to note that Esperanto is not meant to replace native languages, but it is meant to be every person's first second language," says Julie Winberg, an active member of the club.
Today, there are about 2 million Esperanto speakers, about 1,000 of whom are native speakers. At the University of Massachusetts, a loyal group of followers still practice the language. They meet each week to discuss readings and practice speaking in Esperanto, the most widely used international auxiliary language.
UMass Professor of Biology and Amherst resident Steven Brewer founded the Esperanto group about five years ago. He met other Esperanto speakers, like Sali Lawton of Westhampton, on the Internet. His mother, Lucy Brewer, is another attendee.
The sound is hard to describe, but it's closest to a mix of German and Spanish. Winberg says that people often think that it sounds like whatever languages they know. She once thought that it sounded like Italian but her Italian friends firmly disagreed.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 13
Bill Chapman
posted 5/08/08 @ 9:35 AM EST
What a good account of Esperanto!
You wrote that "Zamenhof even translated the Old Testament into the language". That's true but biblical scholars also translasted the New Testament from the Greek, and the full Bible in Esperanto was published in 1926. (Continued…)
Vilchjo de Mesao Arizono, Usono
posted 5/08/08 @ 1:28 PM EST
Esperanto is sometimes called "Edzperanto."
The word for husband is edzo, wife is edzino and peranto is agent.
So, Edzperanto is the marriage agent. (Continued…)
Tom Windsor
posted 5/08/08 @ 4:42 PM EST
An invented language must be articifial, which means dead.
So what's the point of keeping a dead language alive.
Enrique
posted 5/08/08 @ 9:00 PM EST
Tom Windsor said:
>So what's the point of keeping
>a dead language alive.
... kind of a contradiction ...
I would ask Tom and all the people that aren't informed about Esperanto, please get some information, and better yet, learn the language, so you can enjoy all the benefits Esperanto speakers have enjoyed during 120 years. (Continued…)
Andrea
posted 5/08/08 @ 9:05 PM EST
Hey just wanted to say my e-mail is listed wrong. It's akmurray@student.umass.edu in case anyone wants to contact me.
Brian Barker
posted 5/09/08 @ 5:39 PM EST
Tom Windsor does not take Esperanto seriously.
LOL at that.
However eight British MP's have nominated Esperanto for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.
If Esperanto is not a living language, the nomination would have been impossible!
Please check http://www. (Continued…)
Ross Dubois
posted 5/09/08 @ 6:40 PM EST
Rimmer from Red Dwarf had trouble learning Esperanto, but Lister and Holly - not so much.
Hilmar Ilton Santana Ferreira
posted 5/13/08 @ 5:21 PM EST
Hi, my dear Tom Windsor,
How said other persons, before me:
--"Mona Lisa" is artificial and so alive.
-- Aircraft, airplane are artificial and indeed useful. (Continued…)
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